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- Watchmaking’s after-sales headache
- One World, One Dream
- The endless quest for watchmaking precision
- Looking back in wonder
- Magic meets emotion at the Spring watch fairs
- The Swiss watch industry is bursting at the seams
- History repeats itself…
- The ultimate luxury of a bespoke watch
- Swiss watchmaking is running after its lost generation
- Swiss watch brands take industrial action…
- The quest for the eternal watch
- Fine watchmaking, made in Germany
- From outer space to inside your watch
- All that glitters…
- Swiss Made in the spotlight
- Basel and Geneva have their finger on the industry’s pulse
- Distribution networks are a genuine open sesame for watchmakers
- 2006, a year of superlatives for the luxury watchmaking industry
- On the necessary industrialisation of Haute Horlogerie
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Omegamania inspires… Omega
"To follow the success of the Omegamania auction we felt the time was right to take an innovative approach in what is probably the world’s leading vintage watch market. Given Omega’s rich and interesting history and George Somlo’s expertise I’m sure it will be a great success." So declared Omega’s President Stephen Urquhart when he announced the opening in London of the first Omega Vintage Store at Somlo Antiques in Burlington Arcade. Says George Somlo, a specialist in vintage watches, "There are many Omega watches remaining in circulation from vintage years, purely because they were made so well. If you take any vintage Omega apart, you will find extremely high quality workmanship. Vintage Omegas are still undervalued for what they are really worth, but this has already started to change."
The new London store is entirely devoted to vintage models by the brand. Rest assured there will be no re-issues or new versions of past forms: nothing but originals such as the ones on show at the store’s opening: early twentieth-century pocket watches, 1930s chronographs, 1940s chronometers and some of the very first Speedmasters from 1957 and 1958, all as coveted as they are rare. Each watch is sold with a two-year warranty and a certificate of authenticity. The store also proposes a specialist restoration service for vintage Omega watches. Given the success enjoyed by Patek Philippe, Rolex or Audemars Piguet in the auction room, Omega and its 160-year history has no reason to sit on the sidelines of the booming vintage watch market. C.R.
